Recapping our Un-Cruise Adventure in Alaska

One full week has passed, and today Un-Cruise Adventures’ Safari Endeavour arrived back at her berth in Juneau. Together with my fellow 83 other guests, I placed my luggage outside my stateroom door this morning before breakfast. I had my final breakfast onboard – which Expedition Team Leader Mark, in a bit of a Freudian slip, referred to as our “last meal” – and then disembarked the vessel.

Un-Cruise takes care of everything on their Luxury adventures, including transfers to and from the airport. Since my Alaska Airlines flight wasn’t scheduled to depart Juneau until 2:00 p.m., I was taken first to the Westmark Baranof hotel (well, I chose to walk, actually), where we were on the other side of the Hospitality Area this time. Another 84 excited guests were buzzing around the lobby area of the hotel, waiting for the magic hour when they would be whisked onboard for their week of adventure.

What really struck me about my week onboard the Safari Endeavour was just how accustomed to the experience I had become. Changing planes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport seemed like a neverending gauntlet of people, all of which had to be maneuvered around. Back in Vancouver, an hour-long customs line for Canadian citizens (and an even longer one for international guests) at YVR seemed like unnecessary punishment. But, this is what happens when you don’t have to wait in line for anything for seven straight days.

The other thing that got me was just how different this experience was from my other Alaskan cruises. If you’ve cruised on a big ship to Alaska, Un-Cruise is totally different. If you’ve luxury cruised to Alaska – again, Un-Cruise is a completely different experience. I saw parts of Alaska I’d never seen before during this past week, and ones I had seen – like Glacier Bay National Park – were presented in an entirely different way.

Our Live Voyage Report onboard Un-Cruise Adventures’ Safari Endeavourhas sadly come to a close, but our next Live Voyage Report begins on Wednesday with run-up coverage of our adventures in Turkey and Greece aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s EUROPA 2! Be sure to follow along on twitter by following @deckchairblog or the hashtag #LiveVoyageReport.

Total bummer. No contingency plan for the endeavor as we are stuck in Juneau. It is a very uncruising non adventure. I’d like my money back. The anchor chains are tangled and it’s taken more than 24 hours and they are still untangling. Bummer. Not a fan. Was hoping to be a fan.

I’m really sorry to hear that, Trisha. Anchor chains that are tangled presents a very serious problem for the crew. The entire chain weighs thousands of pounds, not including the anchor, so fixing it can be quite problematic. I trust that Un-Cruise will try to make it up to you somehow, but chances are they’ll have to get the thing untangled first to see how much of the cruise can be salvaged. Please keep me posted.